“Never saw her.” Sirens whirred in the background. “Hey, you going to come claim the truck or…?”
“I’ll be right there.” I ended the call, scrolled through my contacts and dialed Decker Comeaux, an elf I’d met while working on Marie’s drowning. A beep prompted me to leave a message. “Hey, this is Agent Ellis. There’s an incident at the Murphey’s on Round Pond Road. Meet me there as quick as you can.”
A black tide of panic rose until I had trouble sucking in a full breath.
Thanks to his sensitive warg hearing, I didn’t have to waste time catching Graeson up to speed.
Knowing me as well as he did, he guessed the turn of my thoughts with ease. “This doesn’t have to mean Charybdis is involved.”
“I can’t risk it.” I massaged my chest as though that might keep my heart beating. “I have to call Vause.”
A tickle of sensation prickled my mind, the pack bond at work was my guess.
“Your truck’s already hitched to your trailer.” He caught my arm before I could shove past him. “I asked Dell to bring me the keys to mine.”
Exiting the trailer in a daze, I had to move, had to do something. I started walking the perimeter of the wards, aware Graeson’s keen hearing meant he would catch every word exchanged. Speed dial trilled in my ear, and I paced as Vause’s phone rang five times then rolled to voicemail. I hung up without leaving a message.
I had tapped my phone against my bottom lip once when it buzzed with an incoming call.
“Ellis.”
“This is Magistrate Martindale.” A haughty huff filled the line, and I had no trouble picturing him as puffed with self-importance as a toad. “Forgive me. I just missed your call.”
What was he doing answering Vause’s phone?
“I didn’t mean to disturb you.” Having gotten used to dealing directly with Vause, I scrambled for the proper reverent tone one should use when addressing a magistrate. “I was trying to reach Magistrate Vause.”
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible.” A whiff of a chuckle tickled the line before he shared the cause of his delight. “Irene is missing.”
“Missing,” I echoed, as though I had misunderstood.
“Vanished from behind a locked door twenty-four hours ago.” After the delicious morsel of gossip had been devoured by my ears, his savor ended. “It goes without saying that no one outside the Earthen Conclave is privy to this information. Some fool ran late for an audience. He thought she must have cancelled and forced his way in, making quite a spectacle of himself. We might have hoped to contain these most unfortunate circumstances if not for that. As it is, I’m sure the news will be making the rounds by morning.”
My back hit a tree, and I leaned against it. “Were her guards…?”
“One dead.” He clicked his tongue. “One missing. Seelie the both of them. Had she accepted my offer of Unseelie guardians, this tragedy might have been averted.”
Noncommittal noises bubbled out of me. Seelie I might be, but a fool I was not.
He must have taken the mumbles as agreement, as he sighed in satisfaction. “Now then.” A ripple of pops, similar to knuckles cracking, rang in my ear. “What business did you have with Irene?” He slathered on what I’m sure he thought was charm. “I will be governing the Northeastern Conclave in her absence, quite a burden by one’s self, but a task I am equal to. Anything you have to tell her, you can share with me.”
“I…” I fumbled for an excuse and settled on, “I wanted to check on the status of my leave of absence.”
“Oh. You’re that Ellis. The Gemini girl. The one who cavorts with a warg and compromised a multiple-homicide case.” The disgust in his tone at having wasted perfectly good gossip on me was evident. “I’ll have my assistant call you with that information.”
Click.
Across the yard, Graeson rubbed his jaw. “What do you think it means?”
The rumble of an engine stopped me from answering. Dell swerved alongside us and threw the sleek pickup into park. Extending her arm out the window, she slapped the flat of her palm on the door. “All aboard who’s coming aboard. I’m driving.”
“No, you’re not.” He glowered. “We need to be ready to drive out once Ellis and I return. There’s no reason for you to go, not when an extra set of hands could come in handy here.”
Graeson reached for the door handle, but Dell hit the lock button with the flat of her hand. “I’m going, even if I have to hitchhike to get there.”
“Don’t you trust me to take care of Ellis?” He could have reached inside and hauled her out, he was within his rights to punish her insubordination, but he leaned on his elbow in the window instead. “Why is this so important to you?”
Stubborn gold winked in her eyes, and she barely restrained her growl. “Isaac.”
“We don’t have time for a pissing match right now.” I circled the truck and let myself in, scooting next to Dell. “My cousin and aunt are missing, Vause has been taken, and I won’t trust the rest of my family is safe until I set eyes on them.” I leaned over her lap and met Graeson’s unflinching stare, not the least cowed by his newly bestowed alpha magnetism. “Are you coming with us or not?”
“You’re not facing this alone.” With a snarl curling his lip, he prowled around the truck and slid onto the bench seat beside me, resting his arm across my shoulders. “You and I are a team. Where you go, I go.”
Lacing my fingers with his, I held on tight as Dell churned gravel with her tires. With the smoke from the explosion clogging my nose and my heart banging against my ribs in fear for Isaac and Aunt Dot, I let the tears hazing my vision fall.
Where you go, I go.
I just prayed I wasn’t leading him into a trap.
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About the Author
A cupcake enthusiast and funky sock lover possessed of an overactive imagination, Hailey lives in Alabama with her handcuff-carrying hubby, her fluty-tooting daughter and their herd of dachshunds.
@HaileyEdwards
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www.HaileyEdwards.net
Head Above Water (Gemini: A Black Dog #2) Page 25